‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘Taste of Cherry’ star Homayoun Ershadi dead at 78
Iranian actor Homayoun Ershadi, best known for his role in The Kite Runner, has died aged 78.
According to the Iranian state news agency, IRNA, Ershadi passed away on November 11th following a battle with cancer.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani described his death as a “sorrowful” moment for the country, before calling him a “noble and thoughtful actor of Iranian cinema”.
Ershadi was born in Isfahan in 1947 and initially worked as an architect for many decades before accidentally stumbling into a secondary career in the film industry.
His unexpected break came when director Abbas Kiarostami stumbled upon Ershadi in a traffic jam in Tehran, and asked him if he wanted to star in his movie, 1997’s Taste of Cherry, which won the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
During an interview with Media Max, he reflected on the role, sharing, “We were sitting in my car with Kiarostami, eating ice cream when I asked him about my character. He answered that my character was an architect from Italy. I was also an architect working in Italy. I wore my own clothes in the film, and that was my car I drove. During the dialogues there was Kiarostami standing in front of me, instead of the actor. I was not playing a role, I was just being myself.”
He also proudly said, “Kiarostami did not work with professional actors. The non-professional actors of his films did not continue their career in the future. I can say that I am the only non-professional actor that continued his acting career after playing a role in Kiarostami’s film.”
Following Taste of Cherry, Ershadi left architecture behind to focus on his newfound love of acting, including his starring role in The Kite Runner in 2007, which was nominated for an Academy Award, as well as three Baftas.
Other roles in Ershadi’s career include appearances in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, and Asif Kapadia’s Ali and Nino.
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